“Sometimes in the mountains the animals make paths by using the same route again and again. If you don’t know what you’re doing, you might think it’s a path made by humans—it looks that way. If you follow that path, the path of beasts, you won’t get anywhere at all. People lost in the wilderness, they follow these paths and only get more and more lost. Sometimes they lose their way and they die. It’s not a path for humans, it’s a dangerous diversion.” Tokyo Vice by Jake Adelstein

ShoeboxLA is pleased to present John McGuire Olsen: Path of Beasts. Video games offer worlds which can be accessed from practically anywhere. In John Mcguire Olsen’s case, he accesses these worlds in his studio and collects particular “moments” from these games which may eventually become paintings. Olsen uses these snapshots to create dreamy, trance-like images that are pensive and quiet - something missing in most contemporary, mainstream video games, which favor kinetic action over thoughtful reflection. Olsen embraces the idea of becoming lost or sidetracked from the original intention of a game and sets off on a path to dissect the rarely celebrated act of failure (or in video game language, “failure state”) and, in turn, creates visionary paintings which gently whisper for the viewer to pause and reflect.

John McGuire Olsen received his BFA from the University of California, Santa Cruz, California. He lives and works in Los Angeles.

Now in its second year, ShoeboxLA gives Los Angeles artists an opportunity to do one-day, site-specific exhibitions outside the traditional gallery setting. Artists and founders Sophia Allison and Paul W. Evans provide an intimate space that challenges artists' and viewers' expectations of size and scale. Locations change for each show but the space remains the same.